Saturday, October 24, 2020

Who Are Those Composers ~ Jan Rychlik

 

Jan Rychlik was born in Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary on April 27, 1916. His parents wanted him to study economics, but he was attracted to music and foreign languages from an early age. In 1939, during the German occupation of Czechoslovakia he began to study at the Prague Conservatory. Later he became a pupil of Jaroslav Řídký, and in 1946 he graduated from the Master School of Composition in Prague.

He collaborated with the Gramoklub Orchestra and also played drums with the early Karel Vlach Orchestra. In addition to his drumming abilities, he was an excellent pianist as well as other instruments.

At the beginning of his career he composed mainly popular dance songs; however, in 1943 he created first chamber compositions, such as Sonatine for Clarinet and Piano and Sonatine for Piano. Shortly afterwards he focused on orchestral compositions. Following WWII he devoted himself mainly to film scores. He composed the score for the well-known musical comedy Lemonade Joe. Some of the songs from the film became classics ("Arizona" and "So far"). He is also known as the author of the music for the French film La Création du Monde by Jean Effel.

On January 20, 1964, Rychlík died at the age of 48. Following his death, Czech composer Otmar  Mácha composed a memorial work, Variations on a Theme and on the Death of Jan Rychlík, for symphonic orchestra.

 

RYCHLIK, Jan

Born: 4/27/1916, Prague, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary

Died: 1/20/1964, Prague, Czechoslovakia

Jan Rychlik’s westerns:

Song of the Prairie – 1949

Lemonade Joe – 1964

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